Perry v. Schwarzenegger
United States District Court for the Northern District of California
704 F. Supp. 2d 921 (N.D. Cal. 2010)
California's Proposition 8 (defendant's law) limited marriage recognition to opposite-sex couples, leaving same-sex couples (plaintiffs) only the option of domestic partnership, which offered fewer benefits than marriage. The law's proponents intervened, defending it as advancing tradition, cautious incremental social change, opposite-sex parenting, First Amendment interests of marriage traditionalists, and a distinction between same-sex and opposite-sex marriage. Two same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses sued, claiming the law denied them due process and equal protection.
Whether a state law prohibiting the recognition of same-sex marriage violates the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.